Furia by Yamile Saied Méndez (review)

Méndez, Yamile Saied Furia. Algonquin, 2020 [368p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781616209919 $17.95 E-book ed. ISBN 9781643751207 $15.95 Reviewed from digital galleys Ad Gr. 8-10

At home in the Argentinian barrio, seventeen-year-old Camila is a dutiful daughter, but she secretly escapes to the fútbol field, where she's Furia, the ferocious and talented player on a scrappy girls' team with a chance to make it to the Sudamericano tournament. While Camila knows that women's soccer doesn't bring riches, she's determined to catch the eye of a U.S. scout and make it to an American university. She's also getting more serious about another secret: her growing relationship with childhood friend Diego, whose meteoric rise to soccer stardom has meant a position on an Italian team and adoring crowds at home. There's a satisfying intensity about the way soccer infuses everything in Camila's life, and the book focuses strongly on what it means to her as a young woman to be "playing a sport that a generation ago could have landed me in prison." The focus on sexism and gender restrictions complements the highly romantic story of her relationship with Diego, wherein she's uncomfortably conscious of being the insignificant appendage to the famous man. The sinewy style of the soccer story doesn't mesh well with the empurpled romance passages, though, and the book piles on multiple subplots about various family members, the mission where Camila teaches, and her relationships with teammates that freight down the energy of the sports story. It's that story that lasts, though, and Furia's commitment to the beautiful game will appeal to young Megan Rapinoe wannabes.